The Serenity Prayer, First Corollary

God grant me ...
the serenity to accept the people I cannot change...
the courage to change the one I can ...
and the wisdom to know it's me.

You're likely to be familiar with the opening lines of Reinhold Niebuhr's poem The Serenity Prayer. As you probably noticed, the lines opening this post are not the lines as Neibuhr wrote them, but an insightful and inspirational corollary (source unknown) that I've found be every bit as powerful Neibuhr's original verse.  More »

Celebrating what's right with the world

If you have an interest in positive psychology, appreciative inquiry, positive organizational scholarship, appreciative living, and other related approaches to creating and promoting a flourishing life,watch Dewitt Jones' 22 minute, tour de force video, Celebrate what's right with the world. It's a pathway to being in touch, at a fundamental, gut-level level with what appreciation and positivity is all about.

Every time I've watched this video since, I've been as inspired as I was that very first time. I continue to uncover deeper levels of meaning each time around.  More »

The Guitarist

Image - A GuitarI started to play the guitar when I was 19. A number of years later, I can honestly say that I am still learning play, although over the years, I've heard, felt, and seen enough progress in my playing that I'm comfortable (at least in some circles) in referring to myself as a musician. A guitarist.

I've finally gotten to the point in my playing where I let my hands, my fingers, my body, dare I say my heart -- make the music. Somewhere along the way, my head (my mind -- whatever -- the part of me I so readily think of as myself) elected to slide into the background and get out of the way. In return, I honor, acknowledge and appreciate it for what it contributes to my music.  More »

Focus on what’s working and it releases energy (Video 2:31)

Number 6 in Margaret Wheatly's Videos
"10 Keys for Community Change."

The Babemba Tribe and Delinquent Behavior

Image - circle of unityWhen a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he/she is placed in the center of the village, alone ... All gather around the accused individual ... Then each person of every age, begins to talk out loud to the accused. One at a time, each person tells all the good things the one in the center ever did in his/her lifetime.  Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy, is recounted. The tribal ceremony often lasts several days, not ceasing until everyone is drained.... Necessity for such ceremonies is rare!"
  More »

The positive emotion of Elevation

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt defines elevation as a positive emotion "elicited by acts of virtue or moral beauty; it causes warm, open feelings ... in the chest; and it motivates people to behave more virtuously themselves ...."

Haidt and his collaborators conducted two controlled studies, one in which they asked participants to "think of a specific time when you saw a manifestation of humanity's 'higher' or 'better' nature" and the other in which they we induced elevation by having participants watch video clips of Mother Teresa. They report that in both studies, participants in whom elevation was evoked  More »

The Legend of Two Wolves

Image - Two Wolves

A Cherokee elder sat with his grandchildren around a campfire, telling them about life. 

"A fierce struggle goes on deep inside me, children.  It is a terrible fight between two wolves.

One wolf stands for fear, anger, and envy, ... sorrow, and regret, ... greed, arrogance, and self-pity, ... guilt, resentment, revenge, and inferiority, ... lies, false-pride, superiority, and ego.

The other wolf stands for joy, happiness, peace, and love, ... hope, sharing, and serenity, ...humility, kindness, and benevolence, ... friendship, empathy, and generosity, ... truth, compassion, and acceptance.

Search inside yourself, and you'll find that this same struggle goes on inside you. Search around you, and you'll find that the struggle goes on inside every other person, too."

For a long time the youngsters sat in respectful silence, watching the campfire's dancing flames and pondering the old man's story. Finally, one child looked up and asked, "Tell us, Grandfather, which wolf will win?"

The weathered Cherokee nodded his head. Slowly he looked back and forth from grandchild to grandchild. And when he finally spoke, he said to them: "The one we feed.... The one we feed will win, my children.... The one we feed will win."